In some instances a valve or other tool needs to be installed at a location such as a packer or elsewhere downhole and secured into place by a tubing conveyed tool. The valve or other tool then needs to be actuated to facilitate a downhole operation and ultimately the tubing conveyed tool needs to release and leave the operated valve or other tool at the location. In the case of a valve or other tool with an operating linkage the tools of the past have delivered the valve or other tools to the location downhole but have combined the actuation of the valve or other tool with the release of the tubing conveyed tool. The problem with this arrangement was that in a long string the substantial pulling force that was required to release could be enhanced by the potential energy stored in the string that is being pulled upon at the surface. With the tubing conveyed tool still trying to shift the actuating member in the valve or other tool as it is also trying to release from the valve or other tools housing, a situation may occur where undue dynamic forces could be transmitted to the valve or other tools operator components at the time the release occurs. During release, a sudden translation of the tubing conveyed tool from the valve or other tool could occur and result in undue stresses to the valve or other tools operating assembly as a part of the release function.
Another shortcoming of the prior tool design is that it provided no opportunity to test the valve or other tool to determine if it actually operated and could hold pressure before releasing from it.
One such tool sold in the past was offered by Baker Oil Tools under the name RCV Running and Shifting Tool. Shifting tools are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,636,694; 5,765,640; 7,562,703; 7,556,102; 5,678,633; 5,636,694; 5,549,161; 4,928,772; 4,917,191.
The present invention addresses the need to protect the valve or other tool by operating the valve or other tool first with upward pulling force of the work string while still remaining engaged to the valve or other tool with the tubing conveyed running tool. After the valve or other tool is operated, such as a valve being closed, pressure can optionally be applied through the work string or the surrounding annulus to test if the valve or other tool and for that matter a packer that may be attached to it will hold pressure. Only then will an additional amount of upward pulling force be applied after there has already been an actuation of the shifting mechanism of the valve or other tool so that the tubing conveyed running tool releases and the valve or other tool can be left at the location downhole while the running string is removed. The tool of the present invention can also be configured to pull the valve from the location downhole such as out of a packer while not actuating the shifting mechanism of the valve or other tool to prevent pulling of a wet string. In another configuration it can be used as a latch tool only so as to connect a production string to a location downhole such as in a packer and when needed allow the valve or other tool to be operated and the tool removed with the production string. These and other aspects of the present invention can be more readily understood by a review of the description of the preferred embodiment and the associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of the invention is to be determined by the appended claims.